Peter Parker Quest Chapter 34: Changing Seasons, a spider-man fanfic

Publisher's Note: 6/12/14 Thur.

I apologize for the inconvenience but I accidentally mixed the chapters up and published the wrong chapter yesterday for chapter 33, it was supposed to show the events that happened in the School Costume Party, so if you do not mind I suggest reading chapter 33 again if you want to learn more from it and then you can read this one.

CHAPTER 34

Changing Seasons

You've just finished leaving your school's costume party, at which you won fifth place during its costume competition. You also encountered a really creepy girl and your friend Harry up and vanished on you. You've called him several times before leaving him a message.

And then you were on the way to go see your girlfriend and adoptive sister when you notice a bunch of police cars rushing somewhere.

Oh, Come on.

REALLY?

You start heading off towards an area not easily noticeable- the school has guards patrolling it so you head to an alley between some building and climb its fire-escape. After confirming that nobody's around you quickly call Felicia. After a few rings, she picks up.

"Hey, Peter, you on your way?"

You listen to the sirens in the distance. "I was until I noticed a bunch of cop cars, so I'm going to check it out quickly. If it's nothing they can't handle I'll leave it to them, but if it's something big I'll deal with it."

"Alright, but be careful."

"I will, see you soon."

After confirming that there's nobody around, you quickly change into your new Spider-man costume, hiding your Halloween costume on top of the building, assisted by a little webbing. Seconds later, you're off.

It takes only a moment until you're above the cops- using building rooftops and as little as webbing as possible to keep up.

So far, nobody's noticed you.

Arriving on top of a building to the scene of the crime, you see the cops have surrounded a bank in a defensive perimeter. You see several cars on their sides, windows shattered, as well as the bank.

You haven't been noticed yet, so you decide to sit and wait. If the culprits show themselves, you'll be able to decide if you need to act.

Besides, sneaking in is the easiest way for people to claim you're accomplices with whoever is in there. It's probably just some common thieves, but still.

You sit there in silence as you hear the cop's voice, amplified, call for the perpetrators to emerge with their hands up. It's silent as you tensely wait for something.

And then the laughing starts. You see the cops collapse to the ground as their windows shatter and sirens go off as the Hobgoblin walks out, large sacks in hand. He seems to be saying something to the cops, but you can't hear it.

You'll have to wait for him to take off before you can take him down. If he's flying, odds are he can't pull of that laugh, especially if he's weighed down by the two large bags of what is presumably cash.

Still, Gwen said she'd help if you called her, so you should. Pulling out your phone, you dial her phone's number, waiting as it rings before she picks it up. "Hello?"

"Gwen, it's me. You know how you'd help if the Hobgoblin showed up? Well he's at First National Bank, some blocks off from our school. I'll try to hold him off- he's up to something, have to call you back."

Hanging up, you watch as he finishes gloating and kicks a cop. You notice that he seems annoyed when he's hit in the back by a shotgun, the blast echoing all the way up to you. He staggers for a bit before you see him swing set down one of the bags and send the cop flying backwards with one punch.

Picking up his bag, you see the wings extend as he takes off. That bought you a few minutes, so let's keep him delayed.

Now that he's airborne, he's yours!

You leap down, timing it just right as he's just beginning to pick up speed before shooting a web and swinging, sending you feet first into his torso and knocking him down, he quickly tries to recover, more skilled at this than last time as you catch his boot and grab onto his legs. He struggles while ascending.

"Damn it, Spider-man. Why is it that you're always in my way! If you let me go, I'll split the cash with you! Fifty-Fifty!"

"Money? You mean you're not trick or treating? And here I though I'd finally be able to get a Reese's."

You shift you posture so that you can kick upwards, using a moment to web his mouth. "I see you've taken care of the treat for the night, but you've missed out on the trick!"

Kicking upwards, you hear a whimper as you web and pull Hobby so that he's facing downwards away from any pedestrians before jumping off right before he lands. He skips a few times as he lands as his flight pack powers down. The bags land and roll away from him.

On the ground, away from you, the Hobgoblin slowly gets to his feet. His masked face is in a snarl and his voice is a pitch higher.

"YOU!"

He's less steady on his feet now, that crash landing actually hurt him, as he seems to be favoring his left side. His hands go into pouches as he pull out two pumpkin bombs as you hear his flight pack, more noisily, begin to power up.

Your eyes narrow behind the mask as you quickly extend your hands and web the bombs to his. He moves to throw the bombs, but stops as he notices his hands. Clenching his hands into fists, you see that he crushes the pumpkin bombs before his flight pack activates and he charges at you, fists swinging.

You dodge under his furious blows, one by one, as he blindly flies at you in a rage. You're easily dodging his blows and getting a few of your own in before dodging again as you see him wheezing.

And then, as he overextends himself, you hear a loud, metallic 'clang' as he drops to the ground. Behind him, in a red, masked outfit that's obviously not fully finished is a feminine form, holding a pipe.

Wheezing and setting down the pipe with her gloved hands, she looks down at the Hobgoblin before kicking him in the ribs for good measure.

Seems like he's out for the count. But you can hear the police approaching, rapidly.

"Sorry for taking so long, but I don't have my own webbing."

A familiar, muffled voice comes from the woman.

You dodge under his furious blows, one by one, as he blindly flies at you in a rage. You're easily dodging his blows and getting a few of your own in before dodging again as you see him wheezing.

Wheezing and setting down the pipe with her gloved hands, she looks down at the Hobgoblin before kicking him in the ribs for good measure.

Seems like he's out for the count. But you can hear the police approaching, rapidly.

"Sorry for taking so long, but I don't have my own webbing."

A familiar, muffled voice comes from the woman.

It's best this stuff doesn't stay on him and you might as well nip this mystery in the bud. Pulling off the mask ,you see that teen with the camera who had been approaching Felicia earlier today and take a picture with your phone. "Help me get him out of this stuff, lest he break out and just take it back."

Gwen pauses before nodding as you get all of his armor and backpack off before webbing him to the nearby street light post. Tying and webbing all of his stuff to your back, you grab Gwen and webswing away just as the police arrive.

Quickly heading back to where you left your costume without being followed, you set down Gwen before checking your webbing. Just about out. She's been rather nervous and quiet since her earlier comment.

In the meantime, you should put back on your Char Costume over your Spider-man outfit.

There's the Hobgoblin's equipment- what should you do with it?

You'll leave it hidden and come back for it later. Looking around, you see a covered area that could be a good place to store it. You could leave it for the cops, but then there's the chance he could get it back and you wouldn't be able to study it in case you have to deal with him again.

Honestly, New York's finest don't inspire much confidence.

Heading back over to Gwen you sit down. "Hey, thanks for that. You really helped me out there, you know. Also, if you'd like a pair of webshooters, I could probably whip some up. I was going to make new ones, anyway."

You look over at her and let out a sigh. "Look, I don't really have the time for it tonight, but we need to talk. There's a lot that happened while I'm out and you deserve to know. Can we arrange a time to talk?"

Gwen looks down at the mask and gives a wry grin. "Well, I suppose being informed is better than not knowing at all. And you're right. I should get home before my dad finds that I was out. But it was rather therapeutic to hit that guy, you know?"

"I don't know when I'm free, but I'll give you a call when I know."

You nod at her as she puts back on her mask and quickly heads off while you head towards Felicia's house, helmet in arm.

You head back to Felicia's, enjoying the quiet night. After Hobgoblin, you deserve it. Really, you do.

Closing your eyes for a few moments you pause and listen to -absolute nothingness- before opening your eyes. Heading to your girlfriend's house, you knock on the door. Felicia opens up the door and smiles, relieved, before pulling you into a hug.

Eventually, she relents to letting Stella out of her room and spending time with the two of you. You think she might be acting a bit off initially, but the feeling soon fades as the three of you watch a movie. Tonight's turning out to be a pretty good night. When it hits about nine-thirty, you bid them farewell and go to return home, especially after Felicia's house gets a call from Aunt May reminding you you'd better be home by ten.

Or else.

Getting home in the nick of time, you're bailed out by Uncle Ben, who keeps Aunt May from giving you the talk.

All in all, this has been a pretty cool night.

TIMESKIP

The week passes you by- there's word on the Hobgoblin case- the identity of the perpetrator is to be kept confidential. Apparently the feds are even getting involved. But, Harry seems to be in a bit of a better mood- though he's seeming pretty busy- apparently his father is making him take lessons to be better prepared for college, but there was something off in what he said.

More importantly, the Hobgoblin's gear was gone without a trace- no word by the cops or Oscorp that it was recovered- in fact Oscorp's out for Spider-man's head.

You've also begun tutoring Flash- at the local library- apparently his house isn't good for studying. He's not stupid, but it takes him a while to get the idea sometimes. But you don't have to catch him up on as much as you did with 'Felix', speaking of that Felicia's actually putting effort into her studies. She's not sure what she wants to do, but she'd like to go to a good college.

You also spent time explaining to Gwen the alternate future, and upon showing her future tech, have assured her that you aren't playing some bad joke. She's considering her options- considering what you've told her, she'd admitted that there's probably not much good in trying to stay uninvolved.

But the most important of all, your and Felicia's ruse finally came to fruition. Aunt May and Uncle Ben, generous souls that they are, agreed to take in Stella for a while with some help from My Hardy- Aunt May had been ready to refuse the aid, but Felicia, perfectly pulling off the act, convinced them that it was the least he could do.

You're working on decrypting the hard drive- it seems like it'll probably end up a pretty arduous task and will take at least a month.

There's also the fact that you need to apply to a college… or do you?

red- in fact Oscorp's out for Spider-man's head.

You're working on decrypting the hard drive- it seems like it'll probably end up a pretty arduous task and will take at least a month.

There's also the fact that you need to apply to a college… or do you?

Empire State University and Columbia University seem to be your likely choices, there's also always the chance to work at Oscorp when you graduate, and Norman did tell you would be welcome to work for him even without going to college. But that's never going to happen for obvious reasons. To even consider working with the man who likely killed your parents still churns your stomach.

You end up applying to both colleges, just to be safe. Along with every other one in the area. Never hurts!

But you spend more time hanging with people you know in between seeing your girlfriend and working on your hard drive. You keep an ear out for trouble- having bought two more phones and turned one into a portable police scanner. There's not a lot going on- if Hobby escaped, nobody's talking about it.

Furthermore, there's been a lot of odd burglaries that leave sand in the area, but nobody's able to catch the perp. They've gone to calling him 'the Sandman.' But that's all they've been- there's not even been one injured person.

The lessons with Flash continue as well as they have been, but you managed to have a small dinner date with Felicia at least.

You've managed to spend a little time hanging out with Johnny- he's been working on his fire powers in a room he can't destroy provided by DOOM, who is currently out of the country. He's sure he'll be able to fly eventually- right now all he can do is burst into flames and slightly hover.

Harry's been up for hanging out. And by hanging out, its more he's picking your brain to help him study. He's talked less about his shows and whatnot and more about College- he's going for ESU.

Meanwhile, you've been introducing Stella to the modern world- you've shown her around, given her advice, taken her to the movies and made sure she's prepared for school.

So far, all you've gotten from the hard drive are videos of your father explaining the ideas behind some of his notes that he left behind. They don't tell you anything new, but it's nice, being able to listen to your father like this- he's actually recording these for you, it seems, like he's talking to you from the past.

Another week passes as you continue your work. You ask Felicia into looking into Doctor Spyral as you've not found any leads so far. She's been discussing with you patenting that material you made, but you'r both being careful about it. But, between keeping an ear out for crime, there's not too much you've been doing. J Jonah Jameson missed the mayoral elections, but he's not done yet- he's currently using this time to expose corrupt politicians and other internal corruptions at the Bugle, which gave him back his old position.

This weeks' been pretty productive- you've gotten to some of your father's ideas for 'the suit' and there's a lot of potential there, you can practically hear it in his voice. You've made a bit of a breakthrough with Flash- seems like you're beginning to figure out how he works to better teach him.

You've managed to keep in touch with Johnny and Sue Storm. Even though they're limited in the embassy- they're allowed more freedom- like being able to use the internet and the like, even though they can't really identify themselves, it's still better than a total communications block off. Hell, so long as they're disguised, they've been able to leave for small periods of time.

Meanwhile, Harry's gone pretty quiet- whenever you see him, he's got a head in a book and the only thing he asks you to do is check his work. You've actually been spending some time with your neighbor, too. You had trouble getting through to her, with her in her shell until you introduced Stella to her. Meeting your 'sister' seemed to surprise and shake her momentarily, since then she's been spending a lot of time around Stella, who seems to be drawing her out of her shell as she tries to introduce Stella to her various interests.

You're pretty sure you saw her smiling melancholically at her though, you're not entirely sure because a second later she was back to that very blank, subdued look.

Your sister really seems to enjoy spending time with your Aunt and Uncle, and you as well. You have to keep her out of your work, but after getting her to agree to keep secret, you let her watch some of your father's videos with you.

A father's last words- recorded in messages. Seems like the both of you know what that feels like.

Gwen's been... interesting. Considering your histories, you two have mostly kept it to shop talk, but she's keeping an ear to the police for you. You've managed to make a pair of webshooters like yours for her, as well as have full refills of webbing.

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, you don't really have time for tutoring with Flash, so you invite him to hang out one day. The two of you go shopping for gifts for your girlfriends- Flash's girlfriend is apparently Liz Allen, the girl who was third in the costume competition. It's actually an interesting experience as the two of you discuss what presents you're getting for your respective girlfriends. You also notice the more than slightly disapproving look Flash has when he passes bars on the way, but you don't press. You're still only getting to know him as someone other than a bully.

You and Stella actually have to go visit the Latverian Embassy- the both of you, along with Johnny, are getting current medical exams by Sue Storm- you've since gathered up all of your blood samples. The three of you end up goofing off- Johnny's shown off the improvement he's gotten while Stella shows off her illusion powers… apparently. They don't work on you, after all.

Still, apparently Sue Storm's gotten better at her powers- she compares her abilities, unlike yours, like a muscle she has to flex. Surprisingly, she's heard of Doctor Spyral- though not recently. Apparently she was an associate of Otto Octavius a while back, but claims of intellectual property theft were thrown around by both parties and she lacked the sway Octavius had- leaving her a wreck and laughing stock in the scientific community.

Sue, interested by your 'Spider-sense' tried to analyze it, but she's barely been able to make a breakthrough- your spider-tracers are actually something that shocked her that you invented. She's asked you to come back another time for more tests as she analyzes your DNA. The rest of the day was you, Johnny and Stella hanging out while Johnny gives you advice on how NOT to be thrown out of ESU.

You've also been spending time with Stella, helping her feel like a part of that family. Because that's what she is now. You don't mind Aunt May's embarrassing stories about you when you see her smile and look like the child she should be.

Otherwise, you've been working on cracking the last bits of the hard drive, which is much more involved than the earlier parts. The day before thanksgiving, after you help set up for the next day, you spend the rest of the day (and night) working on it.

You're not sure when you fell asleep, but when you wake, it's to the dark with the screen light up. Only two words are on the screen.

DECRYPTION COMPLETE

END
To Be Continued

Please Review